Uber uses lobbying to drive expansion

Chauffeured cars used to be the ride of choice just for Hollywood A-listers and the political elite. Enter Uber, a car-hailing app, which has burst onto the scene to give ordinary urbanites access to hired drivers with just the touch of a smartphone.

That innovation has built a dedicated following of users and drivers in cities like Washington, where supporters often take to social media or turn up at public meetings to fervently lobby for the car service, which is often at odds with government regulators and taxi cab operators.

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Flashback: Uber CEO sits down with POLITICO

But the high-tech company, which has exploded into more than 40 markets over the past three years, isn’t relying just on its Silicon Valley roots and brand loyalty when it hits major political roadblocks.

Backed by some of the biggest names in high tech, Uber has ramped up its hiring of top-notch, well-connected lobbyists, lawyers and public relations firms in a bid to influence municipal leaders and sway public opinion in its favor.

The effort represents a sophisticated national network of consultants, ongoing public affairs and PR campaigns that is nearly unheard of for a startup, which typically steers clear of the insider political influence game. Some who have joined Team Uber have ties to President Barack Obama, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The high-dollar investment is just good business, according to veteran political strategists.

“Uber, whose future is much bigger than on-demand Town Cars, is poised to disrupt lots of market share in the transport and logistics space,” said Steve McBee of McBee Strategic Consulting. “Managing near-term risk at the local level is critical for the company’s near-term business strategy and also has the benefit of preparing them for larger downstream battles in Washington with well-established and highly entrenched industries. It’s smart politics and smarter business.”

Critics complain that despite its high-tech, entrepreneurial image, Uber is using very big-money muscle to corner new markets. “This isn’t Apple starting in a garage — that’s not what we have here,” said Alfred LaGasse, CEO of the Taxicab, Limousine & Paratransit Association, which represents fleets across the country comprising more than 100,000 vehicles.

Uber has “hundreds of millions of dollars invested by Wall Street,” he said, “and is using significant political influence and legal muscle to split hairs and try to get wiggle room to continue to operate in a way that clearly hasn’t been allowed in the past.”

Google invested $258 million in Uber in mid-August. That cash infusion follows $32 million in funding in 2011 led by high-profile figures like Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Menlo Ventures’ Shervin Pishevar and Goldman Sachs. The car-hailing company was recently valued at an eye-popping $3.5 billion.

For its part, Uber says it just wants to improve upon existing transportation opportunities to consumers and expand economic options for drivers.

“Uber is entering these markets in order to provide a service that doesn’t currently exist there,” company spokeswoman Nairi Hourdajian said. “When we do so, we don’t do so fighting anybody. The fight is brought to us by those who don’t want to have to compete, don’t want to innovate and who like the status quo for what it is, which is not to the benefit of consumers or drivers.”

And the company is quick to highlight the viral support it gets, noting that a recent petition to kill proposed rules that would end the car service in Dallas garnered more than one signature per second for the first two hours and 17,000 in the first 24 hours. Earlier this year in Washington, another petition received 10,000 signatures. And the company has even drawn the support of lawmakers such as Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who has tweeted his support for the car service.

Hourdajian said that kind of grass-roots support• and social media activity is central to Uber’s success at the local level.

“It’s incredibly impactful. It’s often organic and a testament to the niche that Uber fills in the market,” she said.

Still, Uber isn’t just counting on online petitions to get the job done. Lobbyist registration records, court filings and media reports reviewed by POLITICO provide a snapshot of the three-year-old startup’s internal operations:

In Chicago, Uber has hired a three-man lobbying team led by Michael Kasper, who helped Mayor Emanuel beat back an effort to remove the former White House chief of staff from the ballot during the 2011 city hall race.

In New York City, Uber’s point man is political strategist Bradley Tusk, who served as campaign manager for Mayor Bloomberg’s reelection campaign and was a former communications director for Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). Bloomberg’s former chief spokesman, Stu Loeser, is now representing Uber as well.

In Denver, Uber hired former City Attorney David Fine and former Rep. David Skaggs (D-Colo.), who successfully lobbied state regulators this week to back off new rules that would have effectively shut down the company there. Hilltop Public Solutions’ Craig Hughes, who managed Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet’s successful 2010 campaign and advised Obama’s presidential campaigns in the state, is also working on PR strategy for Uber, Hughes confirmed.